WFU presents East Coast premiere of "Monkey Business"

In its third production of the 2003-2004 season, the Wake Forest University Theatre will present the East Coast premiere of "Monkey Business," a humorous, provocative new take on the infamous Scopes Trial, one of the greatest trials of the 20th century.

The play will run Feb. 13-14 and again Feb. 18-22. All evening performances will begin at 7:30 p.m., and the Sunday matinee will run at 2 p.m. Performances will be held at Wake Forest's MainStage Theatre in Scales Fine Arts Center.

Created by Murray Ross and Theatreworks, the play features a cast of more than 30 students, a bluegrass band and even the "Marx Brothers" in the jury as it focuses the audiences attention on the issues of the Scopes Trial  evolution, freedom of speech, separation of church and state and due process  issues still hotly debated today.

Ross, a professor of theatre at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS), is the artistic director and one of the original founders of Theatreworks. Theatreworks was founded in 1975 as an affiliate of UCCS by a group of UCCS colleagues.

Ross is a graduate of Williams College and holds a master's degree from the University of California at Berkeley. He has taught at Berkeley, the University of Rochester, Greenwich University in London and the University of Colorado.